Sunday Commentary (on Monday): There is no Conservative Defense for Earmarks
Posted by: Jeff Flint | 09/17/2007 7:22 AM
Blogpen member Ken Campbell has posted and reposted on the issue of earmarks, calling on supporters of embattled Congressman John Doolittle to defend his scorecard on the Club for Growth's RePork scorecard, where the Congressman voted for 49 out of 50 earmarks or so-called "pork" projects.
While not directly taking on the examples that Campbell cites, the Congressman and his allies, including Placer County Supervisor Kirk Uhler, have risen to the defense, pointing out several examples of earmarks that have benefited the residents of Placer County. Most notable have been funding to benefit important transportation projects in South/West Placer County, including the I-80/Roseville Bottleneck widening, the Lincoln Bypass on SR-65, and more.
The Congressman, in his e-mail communications and statements, has said that it is far better for elected Representatives who know their districts to make funding decisions than bureaucrats in the Executive Branch.
From a pure basis of self-interest, I appreciate these projects. As a Lincoln resident who commutes to downtown Sacramento, these projects have a personal benefit to me. In particular, I have to say that since the new auxiliary lane on the 80 between Riverside and Douglas opened, the traffic there has been, much, much better. I rarely encounter a slowdown there now.
Unfortunately, that personal benefit to me is not a good, conservative defense for earmarks.
The problem with the system of earmarks and pork is not the merits of any one project, such as those that Congressman Doolittle got for his district, nor the particularly negative and egregious ones that Campbell and CFG cite in the RePork scorecard.
The problem is the system of "you vote for mine, and I'll vote for yours" that the earmark process creates, and the potential for corruption that this creates in the whole appropriations process. Congressman's Doolittle's defense might have some small merit, if the spending decision were a zero-sum game. But every analysis I have seen of the process is that the earmarks are add-on spending, with the Administration budgeting for what they want PLUS what Congress earmarks. There is overwhelming evidence that pork and earmarking creates upward pressure on Federal spending.
And as Alan Greenspan unfortunately is forced to argue, the Republican Party in Washington DC has lost its way from being the party of fiscal discipline.
So Ken, the answer to your charge, "Defend the Pork," is that there is no defense. More Republican Congressmen should insist on the end to earmarks, as Congressman John Campbell has done.
[Editor's Note: Sorry for posting this a day late...yesterday was a family Sunday and I just didn't get to it. Also, this is shorter than I originally intended, for the same reason.]
Jeff Flint is right. The problem with Doolittle's pork is not the merit of the local projects which were funded, the problem is the votes Doolittle had to trade away in order to get his projects through. Sadly, Doolittle has become on of the biggest, most wasteful spenders in Congress since he started "bringing home the bacon."
if Kerry-Egland had his way, there would be no auxilliary lane on I-80.
He would have voted no on everything. So, let's throw the baby out with the bathwater!? Does anyone think Ted Gaines would vote any different than John Doolittle?
Ask any local elected and they will tell you the same thing.
I am going to post my own commentary about effective government later... I would not want anyone to think I (or anyone else) that Supports our Congressman are trying to duck this issue.
Two problems, Congressman Doolittle is not trying to end earmarks... he votes for every one of them.
The second problem is he uses a bait and switch defense. I80 funding is legitimate. It can easly be argued under Article 1, Section 8 of our Constitution, funding I80 is "General Welfare". A Charlie Rangel center in New York, a Mule Museum in So CA, a theatre in Indiana... and the list goes on is illegitimate and wasteful. The federal goverment should not be spending taxpayers money on these types of things.... PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Taxpayers should be outraged and they should rise up and throw out any politicians who wastefully, irresponsibly and illegitimately use taxpayers money like this!
Once Again Campbell makes NO SENSE in his pontification on earmarks
First of all, who anointed Ken Campbell the conservative voice when it comes to earmarks? What are you looking for in regards to a �conservative defense on earmarks� Ken? No matter how logical, Congressman Doolittle�s effort (like the items you mentioned) you will just find a way to spin it. You might want to look into a career at the Sacramento Bee. You are hypocritical if you say you enjoy the earmarks but �gollie gee gosh darn it, they are bad, bad, bad and un-conservative.� Something that Ken clearly does not understand is that it is the job of Congress, particularly the House of Reps. to prepare the budget, yes, that means �spending��oooooh, there�s that bad word again. The question that conservatives should pose is, �not whether or not we should be spending but, if what gets spent is justified and what it gets spent on is justified?� To me, as a conservative (and I am a staunch one, I hate the baby killers and gun grabbers as much as Mr. Campbell probably does), spending on national defense is justified. Spending on border defense is justified. Spending on safe roads and bridges and infrastructure for Americans is justified. Mr. Campbell needs to get off his high horse and stop pretending like the Club for Growth speaks for all of us conservatives on this matter. THEY DON�T! I guess you would rather the impractical, improbable and impossible, a U.S. Congress that does not spend a dime. Get real Ken and wake up. As for me and my Roseville neighbors, we say bring the improvements here instead of New York, Florida or New Hampshire and John T. Doolittle has done just that. Maybe you would like to move to Rio Linda Ken, just ask Mr. Limbaugh how nice that area is without any infrastructure.
Also, I have no problem with Doolittle actually understanding how govt. works and I believe he is doing what he can to keep his area from just being a donor district. I think Doolittle is just using the system as it is today to get things done here in this district. It is like saying home runs are bad in baseball because you may hit a fan in the stands. Come on, get real. The more money that Doolittle can get here in Roseville, the better. The earmark money is going to be spend no matter what, so why shouldn't he fight for us and get all he can? He is just playing by the rules. What is wrong with that?
Troy, to understand what is legitimate and illegitimate spending you should look to the foundation of our federal government, the US Constitution. Article 1, Section 8 spells out, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States;" The biggest problem is the US Constitution has been thrown out and trampled on such that we no longer have a foundation for our federal goverment. Now days the arrogant Congress makes the Constitution say what ever they want. We have become the serfs and they are the rulling class taking our money and making the rules.
Troy, you should try reading the Constitution some time.
Ken,
Your making an argument as to how things should be instead of how they actually are. So you want to call out Doolittle for playing by the current set of rules. As far as the constitution goes, I don't think any of the branches of govt. are keeping purely to it these days. I don't have a problem with you thinking that things should change. However, I do think it is crazy to call out a specific congressman actions for just playing by the current set of rules. We could make all kinds of arguments about the instant replay rule as well. Fact is, earmarks are a way of getting funing to a district in the current environment. So Doolittle gets money to our district via that process. Until something is done to change earmarks and pork, which by the way are two different things altogether, I say good for Doolittle.
Why don't you just wake up to the facts and stop living in a Utopian fantasy land. Doolittle understands how it works and works it. Your rants sound like a far leftist to me. They make the same mistake when they think that running away from Iraq will make the Islamists leave us alone. How foolish is that. We live in the real world and I personally want someone that knows how to get things done in the real world representing me.
Troy, the real world is that if Doolittle and the rest of the big spenders are not stopped or curbed, they will spend this country into bankruptcy... or collapse. If you want to game the system; eat, drink and be merry today and tomorrow is another day... go ahead. But some of us see a big problem coming and we want to see it fixed.
Some of us think the US Constitution is a very good standard and the place to start... and why not? It has worked for over 226 years.
And by the way, a fact that seems to have been forgotten, today is Constitution Day.
Oh by the way Ken, I do read the Constitution and in accordance with rules set by the constitution, Congress is charged with creating a yearly budget that includes mandatory and discretionary spending. The House and Senate budget committees, usually by early April, finalize their drafts and submit it to the respective floors for consideration and adoption (that is the real world Ken where real dollars and cents are used). Whether you like it or not, Congress will set spending for about 20 categories. Usually, national defense, social security and medicare top the list. But over here in the real world, where we understand how the game is played, other items get addressed as well. Among them, agriculture, energy, health and yes even transportation. All of these areas get real values assigned to them and no matter what you blog, those dollars get spent. Your elected congressmen and senators say where and how. It is painfully obvious that you have no clue how the committee process works Ken. Why don�t you start by going downtown to the state capitol and see how those screwed up legislators manipulate your tax dollars and then maybe you can come make comments on the big boys in Washington where it gets even more complex. Doolittle has year after year fought to cut wasteful spending during the committee process. Your noble champions of conservatism merely offer sound bites for their local news channels to look like they actually did something through amendments on the floor (a process by the way that was given to them by Doolittle). HEY GOOFBALL, IF THEY DID PASS THEIR AMENDMENTS, THE MONEY STILL GETS SPENT. Stop trying to fool everyone. Your false self-proclaiming ideology is really making me nauseous. Liberal underhanded Democrats are pulling dirty tricks left and right and we need skilled �real� conservatives like John Doolittle there that know how to play the game in there to counteract them. I guess you want an empty suit novice in there screwing things up, that scares me and frankly so do you.